Your pay and dates
Before the raise
After the raise
Use the same basis for both, such as yearly salary or hourly rate. The example is made up.
Educational tool only. It compares gross pay with a national price average. It ignores taxes, benefits, bonuses, changes in hours and your own cost of living. Not financial advice.
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How this is calculated
Prices come from the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (BLS series CUUR0000SA0, base 1982-84 = 100). Price change = index at the new month / index at the old month - 1. Your raise = new pay / old pay - 1. Real change = (new pay / old pay) / (index at the new month / index at the old month) - 1. Pay that keeps the same buying power = old pay x index at the new month / index at the old month. This is the same index family the BLS uses in its own inflation calculator. It uses the monthly index, not an annual average.
Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U all items, series CUUR0000SA0, from the BLS time-series file. Months from January 1950 through August 2026 are included. Retrieved October 2, 2026. October 2025 has no published value (BLS: data unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations), so it is not offered. Later months are not included until this page is updated.
Common questions
Did my raise beat inflation?
Compare your pay change with the change in consumer prices over the same dates. If pay rose by a larger percentage than the price index, your raise beat inflation. If it rose by a smaller percentage, your pay buys less than before. Enter your old and new pay and their dates above to see the exact gap.
How do I calculate if my raise beat inflation?
Real pay change = (new pay / old pay) / (price index at the new date / price index at the old date) - 1. For example, a 5% raise when prices rose 4% is 1.05 / 1.04 - 1, which is about 0.96%, not 1%.
What is a real raise?
A real raise is a pay increase after accounting for price changes. A nominal raise is the increase in the number on your paycheck. The real raise tells you whether that money buys more or less than before.
What inflation measure does this use?
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the same series behind the BLS inflation calculator.
What pay should I enter?
Use the same pay basis for both: both yearly salary, or both hourly rate, both before tax. If your hours changed, that is a separate change this tool does not model.
Does this include taxes, benefits or a promotion?
No. It compares gross pay with a national price average. It ignores taxes, bonuses, benefits, changes in hours and any change in your job. A promotion with new duties is a different comparison from a cost-of-living raise.
Is CPI my personal inflation rate?
No. CPI is an average for urban consumers across the country. Your own costs, such as rent, car, health care or where you live, can move faster or slower. Use it as a benchmark, not a measure of your own cost of living.
Why does the tool not let me pick the latest month?
It only offers months with published CPI data. The data on this page runs through the month shown in the source note. A month appears only after the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes it, and October 2025 has no published value.